Assassination attempts on Iraq's PM and Deputy PM in the past 2 days

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/23/iraq.main/index.html

Official: Iraqi deputy PM attacked by guard's friend

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber who wounded Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie and killed nine people Friday was a friend of one of the deputy's bodyguards, a security adviser said.

The bomber was invited to the deputy's compound, where he detonated his explosives just a few meters from the Iraqi leader, the adviser said. Fifteen people were wounded.

...

Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi-U.S. security plan for the capital, said the deputy prime minister required surgery.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad condemned the attack. "My heartfelt condolences go out to the families who have lost loved ones in this vicious attack and to all the Iraqi people who suffer at the merciless hands of these criminals," Khalilzad said in a written statement.

A combination of video grabs (L-R, top to bottom) shows U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reacting to an explosion during a news conference in Baghdad March 22, 2007. Ban was left shaken but unhurt on Thursday on his first visit to Baghdad after a Katyusha rocket landed just metres from a building where he was giving a news conference. REUTERS/Sawatel via Reuters Television (IRAQ) NO ARCHIVES NO SALES

[Jacobin]

1. they are dead men walking

I don't give them a year to live.

We don't have any control over Iraq. None at all.

[sabra]

2. according to reports the Deputy PM is in bad shape...